Marilyn Manson was dropped by his record label after Evan Rachel Wood revealed he was the unnamed ex-boyfriend she spoke to Congress about in 2018 in the wake of the #MeToo movement, when she testified she dated an older man who subjected her to “toxic mental, physical and sexual abuse” and “severe gaslighting and brainwashing.”
In an Instagram post, Wood said she was finally coming forward to identify Brian Warner, “also known to the world as Marilyn Manson,” as her alleged abuser. She said she wanted to “stand with” at least four other women who have recently accused Manson of being violent and controlling.
“He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years,” Wood, 33, wrote about Manson. They became a couple when he was 36, and she was 18 in 2007, and they got engaged in 2010. “I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives,” the “Westworld” actress said.
Following these allegations by Wood and four other women, the heavy metal rocker was dropped by Loma Vista Recordings and became the latest famous man in recent weeks to be publicly accused of abuse or of causing other harm while in relationships with women. Similar to these other men — Shia LaBeouf and Armie Hammer — Manson allegedly started out as a “charming” and loving partner before he allegedly revealed a darker side.
And like LaBeouf and Hammer, Manson has begun to face serious personal and professional consequences. In a statement, Loma Vista Records said it would “cease to further promote his current album effective immediately” in light of the “disturbing allegations” by Wood and the other women. The label’s decision shows that music companies and other related entertainment companies may not be as willing as in the past to tolerate bad behavior by male stars.
In December, LaBeouf saw his attempt to rebuild his career, after a series of personal scandals, crumble after singer FKA Twigs filed a lawsuit, alleging he subjected her to sexual battery, assault and emotional distress while they were dating, the New York Times reported. Twigs, born Tahliah Debrett Barnett, and the “Transformers” star split in May 2019 after nearly nine months together. In addition to Barnett’s allegations, a second former girlfriend of LaBeouf’s accused the actor of abusive behavior, the New York Times added.
In a statement to the New York Times, LaBeouf generally acknowledged that he had struggled with alcohol addiction, had been “abusive” to himself and those around him “for years” and that he was “ashamed” and “sorry to those (he) hurt.” He also said he was part of a 12-step program and “doing what I need to do to recover.”
Despite his statement, LaBeouf was scrubbed from the publicity campaign to promote his latest film, “Pieces of a Woman.” The Netflix movie has been earning Oscar buzz for his co-star, Vanessa Kirby, but Netflix showed it wanted to put distance between its project and LaBeouf only a year after the actor pulled himself out of “persona non grata status in Hollywood” with his film “Honey Boy,” IndieWire reported.The acclaimed movie, which he wrote and stars in, was based on LaBeouf’s turbulent life as a child actor, IndieWire reported.
But with Barnett’s allegations, “he’s toxic again,” IndieWire said.
Hammer has evidently become toxic as well and has been been dropped from two high-profile projects over a controversy about his personal life, which involves his alleged sexual practices and claims that he sent lurid private messages to women about cannibalism and other sexual fantasies. The projects Hammer is no longer attached to are a rom-com film with Jennifer Lopez and a drama series about the making of “The Godfather.”
The scandal began in early January when screenshots circulated online of graphic Instagram DMs that allegedly showed Hammer speaking to women in a way that was sexually domineering and violent. There has never been any proof that the screenshots are real, but three women have come forward to share their concerns about his behavior.
One of those women, Courtney Vucekovich, specifically claimed to Page Six that Hammer talked about which parts of her body he’d like to eat. Another woman, 22-year-old model Paige Lorenze, said in an interview that she and Hammer had what she called “a polyamorous open relationship” that included “BDSM-related activities in the bedroom.” Lorenze said the activities could be “scary” and leave her in “a lot of pain.”
A common thread in the allegations against Manson, LaBeouf and Hammer is that the men eased the women into relationships that eventually became violent or otherwise harmful. Barnett said in an interview that she experienced “an intense honeymoon period” with LaBeouf before he began abusing her.
Another of Manson’s accusers, Sarah McNeilly, said on Instagram that the musician “posed as the perfect boyfriend. … charming, smart, funny, charismatic. As he was wooing me I would come to find out he was torturing others.”
During Wood’s testimony in 2018 before the House Judiciary Subcommittee, she said that her experience with “toxic mental, physical and sexual abuse” started slowly “but escalated over time,” USA Today reported. Wood was testifying as part of a post #MeToo effort to get the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights passed in all 50 states.
While not naming her perpetrator at the time, Wood said she would “wake up to a man that claimed to love me raping what he believed to be my unconscious body.”
Wood testified that the worst part were “sick rituals of binding me up by my hands and feet to be mentally and physically tortured until my abuser felt I had proven my love for him.”
Wood continued, “In this moment, while I was tied up and being beaten, and being told unspeakable things, I truly felt like I could die, not just because my abuser said to me, ‘I could kill you right now,’ but because in that moment I felt like I left my body, and I was too afraid to run.”
But as Vanity Fair reported, such allegations against Manson are nothing new. Before the #MeToo movement swept through the industry in late 2017 and 2018 Manson seemed to feel free to express his violent fantasies about Wood, telling “Spin” in 2009 that he thought “every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer,” Vanity Fair added. When challenged about that statement, a representative for Manson was able to shrug it off as “obviously a theatrical rock star interview promoting a new record, and not a factual account.”
Manson almost faced a reckoning for his past behavior in 2018, according to Vanity Fair. A police report was filed against him citing unspecified sex crimes that allegedly took place in 2011. In August 2018, the Los Angeles District’s Attorney office announced that it had declined to pursue the case because of a lack of corroborating evidence. At the time, Manson’s attorney, Howard E. King, told The Hollywood Reporter that his client denied the allegations and suggested they were fabricated by someone who was “either completely delusional” or trying to “generate publicity.”
With Wood adding her stature and voice to the new round of allegations, Manson and his representatives are finding out they may not be able to shrug them off so easily. The decision by his record label show that people in the music, TV or film industries, where Manson has worked, may no longer want “enable” him, as Wood said.
With regard to another of Manson’s recent projects, Vanity Fair said it had contacted AMC to see if the network still wants Manson to star in its horror anthology “Creepshow.”
This story has been updated to include news that Manson has been dropped by his record label.
